War broke out in Europe form
1803 - 1815. America wanted to stay out of this war. The problem was
that neither England nor France wanted the Americans to trade with the
other. In 1806 Napoleon, the ruler of France, passed a law that any
ship trading with the English would be taken by the French. This law
made it impossible for any ship trading with England to also trade
with France.

The British passed a law in 1807
which said that all ships trading in Europe had to stop in England
first. American shippers were in trouble. They could no longer trade
in Europe.

Another problem was the British
navy had trouble keeping sailors. The men were whipped by their
officers without a hearing. Even small crimes like smoking were
punishable by whipping. Many men refused to serve in the navy because
of this. Others deserted when they reached American ports. Some
British soldiers that deserted from their own navy signed up to sail
on American ships. The British did not like losing sailors and began
stopping the American ships and taking their sailors. About 9,000
American sailors became British sailors in this way. The American
government complained to the British government, but since Britain did
not have enough sailors of their own they planned to keep taking
sailors in this way.

In June 1807 an American warship
named Chesapeake was leaving Europe. She was stopped by the
British gunboat, the Leopard. The captain of the Leopard
demanded to board the American ship to search for British deserters.
The American captain refused to let the British men come aboard. The
British ship fired on the Chesapeake. Three Americans were
killed and 18 others were wounded. The British boarded the ship and
took off four American sailors. They claimed they were British
deserters then sailed away.

The American people were angry and
wanted to go to war with England over this. President Jefferson did
not want war. Jefferson asked Congress to pass a law saying that
American ships could no longer trade with any nation. American ships
were to stay in port. This is called embargo. Embargo on American
goods did not even slow the war between England and France. Embargo
put thousands of Americans sailors out of work and ship owners lost
thousands of dollars.

In 1808 James Madison was elected
President. A group of men in the Congress called the War Hawks said
the British were asking for war. The War Hawks claimed the British
were causing the Indian attacks on the settlers in the Northwest
Territory. Many Americans agreed with the War Hawks and wanted a war
with England.

Some other reasons they wanted a
war with England were:

Farmers in the Northwest
Territory wanted the fertile land of British Canada to expand. The
fur traders wanted the British out of British Canada also so they
could take over the fur trade.

Farmers in the South wanted the
land owned by Spain in Florida. Spain was a friend or ally of
England.

The only people in America that did
not want war were the ship owners in the Northeast.